RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel to Speak at Lincoln Dinner

RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel to Speak at Lincoln Dinner

Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel will share what’s going on behind the headlines in Washington D.C. from an insider’s perspective as the keynote speaker for the Lincoln Tribute Dinner on Saturday, May 20, at the Gull Lake Country Club.

McDaniel is the former chair of the Michigan GOP and was supported after the election by Donald Trump to take the reigns at the national GOP.

“I’m so excited to have Ronna coming back to Kalamazoo,” KGOP Chairman Scott McGraw said in announcing her as the Lincoln Dinner speaker. “Her vision and leadership served Michigan well and I’m looking forward to seeing her dynamic personality help us at the national level.”

Tickets to the 122nd annual dinner are available at www.eventbrite.com, McGraw said, and are expected to sell out. “Don’t miss this great event,” he added. “Book now as space is limited.”

McDaniel is the second woman ever elected chair of the RNC. In November, she helped deliver Michigan for Donald Trump, the first time since 1988 that Michigan turned red. Trump won Michigan and its 16 electoral votes by less than one percentage point.

With Trump’s backing, McDaniel was voted to lead the 168-member RNC in January during the committee’s winter meeting. She replaces Reince Priebus who left the position to become Trump’s White House chief of staff.

“I am a mom from Michigan. I am an outsider. And I’m here to make Donald Trump and Republicans everywhere successful,” McDaniel said after her appointment.

“I am committed to working for a unified and inclusive Republican Party, and that starts right here with this committee,” she added.

Priebus, who served as the RNC’s chairman for six years, praised McDaniel as a “great leader” in his outgoing speech to the RNC.

“As President-elect Trump said last month, [McDaniel] barely slept this [election] cycle because she was so focused on winning. Even when Democrats and pundits were saying it would never happen,” Priebus said. “It is that level of passion, along with her commitment to building out the ground, data and digital operation the RNC has been working on for years, that gives me total confidence she is the right woman to lead the RNC.”

“For far too long, Democrats have hailed themselves as the party of women,” McDaniel said. “As Republicans, we know their so-called monopoly on being the party of women is false, and it is a mindset I intend to change. Women are not a special interest group. We care about all issues.”

She was elected as the Michigan State Chairman from Michigan in February 2015. McDaniel served as a Trump delegate and chaired the Michigan Delegation to the 2016 Republican National Convention.

She has served as a Precinct Delegate, as a District Committee Executive Member and State Committeewoman in Michigan and served as National Delegate to the Tampa Convention representing Michigan’s 11th District.

In 2013, she served as co-chair for the Mackinac Leadership Conference and was appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder to serve on the Board of Marriage and Family Therapists.

In her local community of Northville, McDaniel has served on land planning and public safety committees and is actively involved in her local PTA. She received her B.A. in English from Brigham Young University.

She is married to Patrick McDaniel and has two children, Abigail and Nash.